A few days passed since the meeting with Rick and his Chiefs, and plenty of plans were made. Plans to replace the Central Clan’s Chief, plans to shore up their forces, plans to do many things during this period of relative peace, no matter how short lived that it may be for now.

  During these passing days, Rick had yet to meet with Mir again, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t be a long time before the powerful cat showed itself once more. Though because Rick did not want to frighten his people, he made all the Chiefs aware of the creature.

  If they saw it, do not bother it, do not entice it, do not try to fight it, ignore it, and report it to him as quickly as possible. Of course, the Chiefs did not take it as easily as he did, as they were very troubled at the fact that a being far stronger than any of them could imagine could randomly pop up in front of them, or worse yet, in front of any Goblin within the Dark Lands of Mir.

  But seeing as how Rick kept up a brave face in front of them regarding it, they managed to push their grievances down. If the King was okay, then what did they have to say?

  Anyway, one of the major things Rick wanted to do was elevate more of his Goblins to the Seventh Tier, but that wasn’t something he could just do with the wave of a hand. Of course, he did it while he was still at the Sixth Tier, but there was no guarantee it wouldn’t come with fainting once more, and this was not the time to be out for significant periods of time, not when the enemy could come back at any moment.

  But that was only one reason. The other was that all the Goblins who were at the Sixth Tier right now needed time to gather Essence. The Chiefs who had evolved to the Seventh Tier had been at the Sixth Tier for a significant period of time.

  They had long since reached the peak of all that they could, and all they needed was the blood of their King to reach beyond. So it would be some time before a crop of new Tier Sevens graced the Dark Lands of Mir.

  As the days continued to pass and the Goblins continued to do their best to recover, Rick, who was in the middle of conducting a training session with his Royal Goblins, had to pause as Mir showed up in front of him.

  Commander Meegra froze where she was, her hands, fingers, and almost every muscle in her body quickly tensed, and it wasn’t just her. All the Royal Goblins in the area, even the ones who weren’t participating in training since they were focused on their guard duties, tensed as they watched the cat appear before Rick, calmly bend down, and look at its paw before turning its eyes to Rick.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Annoying enemy. You stay here.”

  That was all it said before vanishing once more, and of course, it wasn’t quiet with its words. All the Royal Goblins, and obviously Rick himself, heard the words of the creature.

  “My King, it said enemy. Should I rally the Chiefs?”

  Rick closed his eyes for the briefest of moments and then opened them.

  “No, we will continue training. Even if there was an enemy, if Mir needed our help, then we were doomed from the start. We will continue. Do not raise any alarms.”

  Commander Meegra obviously had her misgivings about this, as she didn’t want to leave any enemy of the Goblins in the hands of others, especially not when the wellbeing of her King was at stake. But her King had spoken, and his words were logical enough that she offered no rebuttal, and back to training they went.

  Back to the present…

  The King of Verdan, under the pressure of Mir, was forced to his knees…something he hadn’t experienced since he was a child standing before his own father. But even though the being before him could squash him like a bug, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to his feet.

  Not only was he the King of a powerful nation on this continent, but he was also at the Eighth Tier of power. Kneeling before others wasn’t something he was fond of, but that wasn’t the only reason he was so quick to defy Mir. It was because he knew something—something that all the major leaders on the continent knew.

  Mir could not leave its borders.

  Applying its pressure on him like this was the most it could do. So, after forcing himself to his feet after a few breathless moments, he once again looked down on Mir, whose eyes were still red as it gazed silently upon the King of Verdan.

  Silence reigned between them for more than a few awkward moments.

  “I apologize for encroaching upon your lands, Mir, but there is a being within that I must kill. I ask for your allowance in this, please.”

  While the King of Verdan did not necessarily fear being attacked by Mir at the moment, nor would his pride allow him to stay kneeling before another, he was not a fool. Despite being forced to kneel, he did not resort to disrespecting Mir, not only because the beast before him was so strong that it deserved some level of respect even from him, but because he wanted to enter its lands.

  He had previously been under the notion that Mir was asleep, as it had been for who knows how many years. But seeing that Mir was clearly awake, and not only that but wanted him gone, he had to be careful with his words.

  But Mir did not answer. Instead, its form slowly began to shift from the small cat that it was and grew and grew until it took up everything within the sight of the King of Verdan. What took the place of the cat was not any creature with any sort of defined form.

  What took its place was quite literally something that resembled an eldritch horror. Something that shouldn’t exist, something that not even the most fearless knights could gaze upon and keep their knees from wobbling.

  But before Mir could continue the transformation, another being appeared next to the King of Verdan.

  The King’s eyes widened.

  “Grandfather!”